Friday, October 05, 2007

Carrie's Homework

After all the seriousness of the last week, Ms. Carrie Link encouraged me to find some humor in my life. Luckily for me, I don' t have to go very far for that. Having become so jealous of all the exotic and wonderful places my husband gets to travel without us, we decided it was about time we tagged along. Unfortunately, since my passport is expired, the list of places we could accompany him were limited. Note to self: fix that ASAP!

Having said that, Sonoma, CA is not such a horrific place to have to spend five days at the beginning of October, so the three of us girls packed a bag and tagged along.

Since this is technically a business trip for my hubby, he spent the first two days working while the girls and I explored the area. Since they are quite a ways from being old enough to drink, none of that included wine tasting. Think bookstores, ice cream shops and the park. However, they were adventurous enough to join me on a road trip to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Unfortunately we didn't realize until we got there that it is known as "the single windiest place on the entire Pacific Coast". They don't exactly trust my choice of activities anymore.

But I digress. Carrie's homework was, specifically, to find ten funny things that have happened to me. Being so far in the middle of this porcupine embrace, I was finding this difficult, but then, being married to my husband and having produced a child that is literally a miniature of him means that laughter is not far away at any given moment.

Last night I discovered just how glamorous my husband's business trips usually are. Unless there is some specific dinner or evening event scheduled after his day of work, his normal routine is to return to his hotel room, change out of his work clothes and open his laptop. Now, this is not generally a humorous thing unless I add a few details. At home, changing out of his work clothes means substituting them for one of his favorite t-shirts and a pair of shorts (May-October) or sweat pants (November-April). When he's on the road, he likes to pack light. What this means is that he generally doesn't want to waste space on extra clothes. So he sits in his underwear on the couch of the hotel room in front of the TV with his laptop on his lap and works until midnight. He did remark that occasionally he worries about how warm his 'fellas' get with the laptop after about a half hour. Good thing we're done having kids or I might have to intervene...

This evening my youngest came through with another piece of my homework. As I helped her older sister bathe after a long day of hiking and defying the strength of the wind on the Northern California coast, I could hear her singing at the top of her lungs out in the other room. As we emerged from the bathroom she was only too happy to perform her latest creation for us, inspired by the travels we've taken her on. It goes a little something like this (you'll have to create the tune for yourself - it's nothing you might recognize normally):

I like to live on a monkey ranch,Because I do a monkey dance.Which makes me smell like monkey pantsAnd that's even worse than the streets of France.Ta da!

I'm thinking that so long as I continue to surround myself with my family, I'll be doing just fine...

7 comments:

I love, love Carrie, but her homework can make me nervous or out and our scared. However, I think this was a great assignment for you and I enjoyed reading about your windy adventures with your girls. It sounded like a special time.

I love the conclusion that you came to a the end, surrounding yourself with your family and your will be doing just fine....So true, so much humor within the walls of our own home (or hotel) we just often don't see it. I think you are off to a very good start.....Now get your passport updated.Love.

Oh, no, dear Suzy. Lest you think I'm some sort of maniac, I should clarify. I said no wine-tasting. That does not mean I didn't do any wine-drinking. I just didn't get those little mini-tastes before I decided to indulge in a big old pour of my choice with meals.

"Since they are quite a ways from being old enough to drink, none of that included wine tasting."

"At home, changing out of his work clothes means substituting them for one of his favorite t-shirts and a pair of shorts (May-October) or sweat pants (November-April). When he's on the road, he likes to pack light. What this means is that he generally doesn't want to waste space on extra clothes. So he sits in his underwear on the couch of the hotel room in front of the TV with his laptop on his lap and works until midnight. He did remark that occasionally he worries about how warm his 'fellas' get with the laptop after about a half hour. Good thing we're done having kids or I might have to intervene..."